Two national companies during the last year have considered opening or expanding distribution centers in Harford County, but passed because of concerns over logistics, the county’s economic chief said.

Amazon.com Inc. and Saks Inc. both chose other locales, in part, because Harford County is too far away from Fed–Ex and UPS ground hubs, said James C. Richardson, the county’s economic development director.

“What I’m being told,” he said, “is we’re not as competitive because we don’t have easy access to one of those hubs for e-commerce.”

The news has floored Richardson, who touts Harford County’s relatively quick access to the Port of Baltimore and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

As surprised as Richardson was to find out his county might have inadequate logistics, he said he’s just as unsure of what to do about it.

“I don’t know the answer to that,” he said. “I’m not saying we’re missing anything — I just don’t know.”

The issue isn’t on the radar of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development. A spokeswoman for the state agency said there have been no recent discussions regarding shipping hubs.

UPS has large hubs in Hunt Valley and Burtonsville in Montgomery County.

But Susan Rosenberg, a spokeswoman for UPS, downplayed the disadvantages faced by companies that aren’t next door to hubs.

“Just because there isn’t a physical hub adjacent to what may be a property that’s ripe for industrial development or commercial development doesn’t mean you won’t be able to get the same distribution services available,” Rosenberg said.

However, Rosenberg acknowledged UPS’ major hubs allow for later shipping than other locations — a crucial leverage point for deadline-driven e-commerce retailers like Amazon.

At some UPS locations, she said, companies “can have orders filled until midnight and they’re out the door and loaded onto aircraft, and they’re out for delivery the next day.”

No such facility is near Harford County, though. The closest major FedEx Ground hub to Harford County is in Hagerstown — a two-hour drive from Aberdeen and other communities on the eastern side of the county.

Like UPS, proximity to a major FedEx hub allows companies to ship late into the evening, FedEx spokeswoman Paula Bosler said.

“You can add an additional window of time to your business day when you’re close to a major sorting facility,” Bosler said. “The dropoff times become later and that adds more time to get shipments ready and either picked up or dropped off.”

A hub typically accepts packages at least an hour later than other FedEx locations, Bosler said. “In some cases,” she added, “maybe a little longer.”

Neither Amazon nor Saks would say why they passed on Harford County.

Amazon in November announced it would open a 200,000-square-foot distribution center in New Castle, Del. — a city that has a FedEx Ground station.

Amazon spokeswoman Mary Osako declined to comment, but a company statement at the time made three references to faster shipping accommodations that would be possible because of the new facility.

Julia Bentley, a Saks spokeswoman, said the company decided to expand an existing distribution center in Nashville.

Saks, Bentley added, maintains a distribution facility in Aberdeen. But the company moved all of its e-commerce operations to Tennessee, resulting in 223 layoffs that are scheduled to be completed by July 9.

Saks chooses distribution sites based on a region’s “attractive labor pool, reasonable real estate costs, state funding support and easy access to several interstates,” Bentley said.

The presence of Saks, as well as distribution centers of other major national retailers such as Kohl’s Corp. and Sephora USA Inc., indicate Harford County remains an attractive option, Richardson said.

But, he added, economic developers must pay attention to moves made by Amazon and other top e-commerce companies.

“Amazon is the pacesetter,” Richardson said, “so we have to keep an eye on what they do.”